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DIVINE HEALING 

UNDER THE 

LENS 



By A BEREAN 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES C. COOK 

150 NASSAU STREET 



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COPYRIGHT, 1906 

Charles C. Cook 






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CONTENTS 



Preface 3 

Introductory 5 

Scriptural Teaching 16 

Further Scriptural Expositions 36 

Healing in the Atonement 41 

Practical Observations 45 

What Should be the Christian's Attitude 64 

Failure and Success 79 

Personal Testimony 80 

Side Lights 84 



Pr?fare. 



^f N sending out this little book the author 
mfl solemnly calls upon God to witness that 
his only object in its publication is to 
glorify Him by correcting certain prevalent 
views which he firmly considers erroneous and 
pernicious. 

Knowing Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour, 
and rejoicing to serve Him and to advance His 
cause, he would fear to write a word that would 
in any way weaken the faith of the humblest dis- 
ciple of his Lord, but would rather seek to 
strengthen and encourage it. When, however, 
he sees a dangerous and misleading doctrine, 
which he believes is the result not of an intelli- 
gent knowledge of God's Word, but of a distort- 
ed interpretation, combined with a fanciful, yea 
and even fanatical (though pious) system of 
purely human origin, he feels that he must "cry 
aloud," if haply he may warn some earnest soul 
from danger. 



4 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

While it is true that this age is sadly deficient 
in faith, it is also true that fanaticism abounds, 
and therefore, in seeking to develop faith, it is 
absolutely necessary to remember that only that 
faith is genuine which is based upon the Word 
of God ; and that all other belief, however sincere, 
is doomed to a failure which will bring reproach 
upon the cause of Christ and cause many to 
stumble. This latter is the usual accompaniment 
of the teaching and attempted practice of so- 
called "divine healing/' 

It's seeming virtues and successes are paraded 
with much show and persistency by its advocates, 
too often on evidence far from convincing, and 
frequently positively absurd or revolting; while 
no account is taken of the dark side of the pic- 
ture — the failure, shame and folly which often 
make shipwreck of faith, for, when the theory 
manifestly fails in its working and suffering and 
death are the disastrous results (which, alas! is 
too often the case), resort is had to excuses and 
ingenious explanations that are not only illogical, 
but frequently border on misrepresentation and 
falsehood. 



iltttrofourtonj 



CERTAIN FACTS AND CONSIDERATIONS. 



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OD undoubtedly places emphasis on Faith. 
In our Lord's colloquy with Philip, pre- 
ceding the feeding of the multitude, it is 
recorded of His query to this disciple, "this he 
said to prove him." He did not want food from 
Philip, but an expression of faith in Himself. 

Of Martha He asked in His conversation about 
the resurrection, "Believest thou this?" We 
also read that "he that cometh unto God must 
believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of 
them that diligently seek him." 

Yet it must also be admitted that it is on just 
such passages that fanaticism builds its founda- 
tion. Therefore it becomes profitable to inquire 
somewhat about this exercise of faith that the 
Word enjoins. 

Some speak of faith and then fix their longing 
eyes on some desirable object, and forthwith 



6 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

"claim it," when they have not the faintest divine 
warrant for doing so. The main consideration 
should be to know how and for what God wishes 
me to believe. Is not faith, before all and above 
all, to center in Him? It is not to be primarily 
for something, unless it be something that He 
has definitely promised. "How do you pray?" 
asked some one of an eminent servant of God. 
He answered, "I find a promise and then 
plead it." 

We here at once come upon a bone of con- 
tention — the advocates of divine healing boldly 
claiming by innumerable quotations and refer- 
ences that bodily healing is one of the distinctive 
blessings which God has promised to his chil- 
dren. As this claim is to be fully treated later 
we will not here dwell upon it, but will empha- 
size the point that faith in God in times of pov- 
erty, distress, famine, persecution, illness, yea 
even when facing martyrdom, is infinitely higher 
than the believing for any physical or temporal 
benefit that can be named. 

2. But is it not a fact that God's children have 
the privilege, yea the right, to pray for bodily 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 7 

healing as for any other thing that may seem to 
them desirable? Assuredly, but always with the 
submissive spirit of our Lord, who in the midst 
of His Gethsemane agony added to His petition, 
"Thy will be done." 

3. No Christian disputes God's power, nor 
His wisdom and love. He can do all things, but 
will He answer my particular prayer in the ex- 
act way in which I would have it answered ? Not 
always. His No, to my petition, may in the end 
yield the fuller blessing. And such a statement 
is the mere alphabet of Christian faith — some- 
thing we are supposed to learn in our spiritual 
infancy, and to apply in every circumstance that 
arises. With this rule before us, can we not re- 
call many instances when even sickness, instead 
of being "always a curse," as some persistently 
claim, proved a marvelous blessing? 

4. Is it not also a fact that some of the purest 
and holiest Christians the world has known were 
weak in body and even chronic invalids, and yet 
possessed of faith in God that shamed many a 
physically robust one? 



8 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

5. Is it not a fact that multitudes of Chris- 
tians who never make any profession as to this 
view of divine healing are strong and active, even 
down to old age, while on the other hand a large 
part of those who do profess it and are ever 
claiming healing never seem to have it? What 
answer can be made to this logic of facts ? From 
observation at close range we can testify that ad- 
vocates of healing are usually a sorry exhibit 
from the standpoint of health. 

6. Does not every one know that testimonials 
as to the miraculous efficacy of all kinds of nos- 
trums come by the thousands from honest people 
who have really gotten well after their use? that 
Roman Catholic relics have many enthusiastic 
champions ? that many persons recover from dan- 
gerous maladies who have no doctor, nor medi- 
cines, nor even prayers, to say nothing of anoint- 
ing? and that that refinement of satanic ingenu- 
ity, Christian Science, has astounding testi- 
monies? Let us not blink at facts in our search 
for truth. 

7. Do not even the apostles of divine healing 
(so-called) fail in body even as others, losing 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 9 

hair, teeth, hearing and vision like common 
mortals ? 

8. Is it necessary to state as a fact that the 
addiction to patent or proprietary medicines (?) 
— many of which are the rankest impostures, be- 
ing composed largely of cheap alcohol — is one 
of the greatest follies as well as curses of the 
times, and cannot be too strongly condemned? 
Even though as stated in paragraph 6, some 
strangely claim to have been helped by their use, 
the benefit, to be sure, if any, being due not to 
any virtue in the fake medicine, but to the user's 
confidence in it. 

9. Again, it is a fact that positive physical im- 
provement has frequently come to those who 
after long dependence upon drugs and doctors 
have under some impulse repudiated both, and 
have found delight in their deliverance. 

10. Living soberly, righteously and godly in 
this present life brings its own reward, which 
accounts for the improvement in the health of 
many who give up a life of self-indulgence, for 
submission to the will of God, with its consequent 



10 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

peace of mind and heart, transmitting its bene- 
ficent influence to the entire physical man. 

ii. Rest and relaxation from exacting and 
trying experiences, together with a change of 
residence to congenial surroundings, especially 
when accompanied by Christian companionship, 
with Bible study and worship, it must be admitted 
have brought restoration to many a physical 
wreck. And herein lies the great advantage of 
Faith and Healing Homes, the soothing atmos- 
phere and quiet devotion to God having a true 
and powerful effect. 

12. Yet even in the very center of these sup- 
posed strongholds of faith are found distressing 
examples of suffering, for which there is no alle- 
viation, and whose disorders steadily increase 
with the passing months and years. 

13. Is it not true that those who have the 
most positive and convincing testimonies as to 
healing are usually persons subject to nervous 
disorders? Thus proving the old truth of the 
power of mind over matter. 

14. That the mind exerts great power over 
the body is now so well known as to be accepted 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 1 1 

everywhere. Dr. L. Menard in a recent article 
on "Some Methods of Psychotherapy/' writes as 
follows : 

"Physicians do not like the word 'mind/ but as 
it corresponds to an entity that cannot be neg- 
lected in their work, they speak of it in Greek, 
as 'psychism/ . . . Numerous maladies or mor- 
bid symptoms are functions, of the psychism. . . . 
The influence of thought on the organism is easy 
to prove. . . . The concentration of the mind on 
a point, or the lively excitation of passions or im- 
agination, have the power to modify the organic 
functions. Emotion and imagination are able to 
modify the secretions, as is shown by the fact 
that the mouth becomes dry and hot in fear or 
anger, while the thought of savory food makes 
it moist. . . .A violent emotion may thus so 
greatly change the secretion of gastric juice as 
to cause indigestion in persons predisposed to it. 
The popular expression 'green with anger' re- 
fers to an attack of jaundice caused by an accum- 
ulation of bile in the blood due to passion; in 
such a case, nervous excitement hinders the nor- 
mal workings of the liver. . . . 



12 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

"Psychotherapy," Dr. Menard goes on to tell 
us, "avails itself of these facts in a variety of 
ways. It may cure by emotion, as when a girl 
who had lost the use of her voice for years re- 
gained it in the fright of seeing a friend in the 
path of an oncoming train. Or it may act by per- 
suasion, as when the physician succeeds in argu- 
ing a patient out of the idea that he is unable to 
talk or to walk. Again, it may have recourse to 
distraction, as Pascal did when he cured a tooth- 
ache by applying himself to a difficult mathemati- 
cal problem. Or it may employ perhaps through 
long years, processes of education and training. 
All these are methods of treatment by psycho- 
therapy or scientific mind-cure." 

15. The average Christian, with his notorious 
inattention to the Word of God, and consequent 
consciousness of ignorance of divine truth, not- 
ably in its dispensational aspects, is apt to look 
upon any positive religious claims, especially 
when put forward by admittedly pious people, 
with a kind of awe and reverence, as being be- 
yond anything he has himself experienced, and 
therefore to be received without controversy. 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 13 

16. Many there are, too, who do not accept 
the common teaching of divine healing, but have 
the feeling that it is a pity to disturb the faith 
of those who advocate and seek to practice it, on 
the ground that such may get some benefit from 
their belief, and even if it does them no special 
good it will do no harm, and therefore these per- 
sons make no adverse comment. 

17. It is beyond dispute that while the science 
of medicine and doctoring is often at fault, yet 
there are cases beyond computation where skilful 
surgery and intelligent medical attention have 
rescued patients whose lives were trembling in 
the balance. 

18. Another fact that cannot be disputed: all 
advocates of divine healing (so-called), together 
with Christian Scientists, and adherents of every 
other school of belief in physical healing without 
medical attention, when they pass away, die of 
precisely the same diseases, the same kinds of 
accidents, or the same kind of bodily weakness 
caused by old age, as do other members of the 
human family. And one waits in vain for an ex- 
planation of this condition, which must ever be 
to them one of weakness and humiliation. 



14 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

19. And finally as we come to an end of these 
impartial facts, let it be freely stated to the glory 
of God that there are on record marvelous cases 
of cure where man's skill was impotent, or not 
available, and where the astounding and glad- 
dening results could only be ascribed to one cause 
and that the wonder-working power of God in 
answer to the prayers of His people, who thus 
proved that He is still concerned in the temporal 
welfare of His saints, and that when it is accord- 
ing to His pleasure, He restores their bodies, 
even though the grave has seemingly opened its 
mouth to receive them. 

This may readily and sincerely be believed by 
the Christian, without his accepting by any means 
that statement of the doctrine known as "Heal- 
ing in the Atonement for this Present Gospel 
Age." 

As the gist of the subject is contained in this 
designation it is highly proper and important that 
its claims should be examined carefully, prayer- 
fully and faithfully — without bias or precon- 
ceived opinion — by the light of God's Word. 

It was in this attitude that the writer began 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 1 5 

his study of the subject. He was then predis- 
posed in its favor, being of the class of persons 
named in paragraph 15 whose study of the Word, 
especially in this direction had been limited, and 
whose regard for his fellow-believers, who laid 
claim to deeper discoveries in divine truth, was 
so strong that he was more than ready to accept 
all that he heard with a willing heart, and to hope 
that he himself might soon attain to such a faith 
and experience. 

The way quickly opened to close fellowship 
with one of the largest movements holding these 
beliefs, and to a prominent position at the very 
headquarters of the work, where his opportuni- 
ties for observation were free and unobstructed, 
while his sympathies were wholly enlisted. 

It was under these favorable conditions that 
his closer study of the subject began, and where 
as an honest man, and a sincere student of the 
Word, he was, almost against his will, forced to 
see the utter unscripturalness of the teaching, and 
to witness how it signally failed in its practical 
operations. 



^rrtptural ®?arl|ttig 



^Jf HE Scriptures, to be sure, are made the 
^^V foundation for their belief by all schools 
of believers in Divine Healing. 

And this, together with the beneficent purpose 
of restoring the suffering — a work which, if gen- 
uine, only a cruel heart would oppose — explains 
largely the tenacious hold that this doctrine se- 
cures upon so many minds. 

Sympathetic interest in and practical devotion 
to the sick and afflicted, would be an engaging 
and winning feature of any doctrine, and when 
this is buttressed by seemingly definite passages 
from God's Word, it becomes almost irresistible. 

It is thereby of the utmost importance for one 
who would adversely discuss the teaching, as 
commonly given, to be able to give the true in- 
terpretation of the scriptural references em- 
ployed. 

In undertaking this service it is first to be 
noted how little distinction there is usually made 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. \J 

concerning portions of the Word, the difference 
between which a little study would reveal. 

It is notorious how advocates of "Divine Heal- 
ing" indiscriminately jumble together (i) "The 
Promises to Israel," (2) "The Miracles of Our 
Lord," (3) "The Healing Work of the Apos- 
tles," (4) "The Gift of Healing," and (5) what 
they call "Divine Life." 

Taking up these in the order named we will 
consider the erroneous use of 

• I. THE PROMISES TO ISRAEL. 

Here the phrase "Jehovah Rophi" is frequent- 
ly employed, "I am the Lord that healeth thee," 
being a familiar quotation, and leading to that 
oft-repeated expression of superiority, "I have 
the Lord as my healer." 

Now if the Scriptures were really known, 
w r ould not the utter incongruity of appropriating 
this promise to Israel by the Church, in this age, 
be seen? Israel was God's earthly people, and 
they were given promises and curses of a tem- 
poral nature, the former for obedience, the latter 
for their sinning. To show that these will not 
fit when applied to the church now we have only 



l8 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

to recall the many among God's choicest ones 
who are weak and ailing in body, and yet whose 
whole life in many cases from childhood, has been 
devoted to him. The curses threatened against 
Israel w T ill be seen to be the plagues visited upon 
the Egyptians, to be sent upon Israel as a pun- 
ishment for sin, and while now and again we 
have heard some particularly hardy and strenu- 
ous (and also logical — from his standpoint) be- 
liever in divine healing taunt an afflicted fellow 
believer with having been "down into Egypt" as 
an explanation of his suffering, the position is so 
untenable as to be generally with charming in- 
consistency abandoned. For any one with a 
little judgment knows that the plagues of Egypt 
are not now being visited on even pronounced 
sinners, whether among God's children or world- 
lings, both of whom are frequently among the 
most robust physically. Truly God's erring 
ones are dealt with as are all sinners, but not now 
usually in this way, or at least not by any clearly 
defined, visible rule. 

Psalm 103:3, "Who healeth all thy diseases," 
is another triumphant quotation, and again Is- 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 19 

rael is assailed by Christian robbers, who steal 
her promises. But aside from this there are 
other knotty difficulties, when the context is lit- 
erally accepted by the believer in this age. He 
need not toil anymore for sustenance, for does 
not the promise say "who satisfieth thy mouth 
with good things"? and his youth moreover is 
also renewed like the eagle's, so that he need 
not anticipate old age(!). These are beautiful 
portions of God's inspired Word, with a deep 
spiritual meaning, and a blessing to all who read ; 
but for all that they were originally given to Is- 
rael, to whom they are truly significant. The 
same attitude must also be taken toward the 
beautiful 91st Psalm. That it applies primarily 
or literally to the Christian in this age is likely 
to be disproven by the first epidemic that ravages 
a community, when the Christian's home is as 
open to invasion as any other, and indeed no one 
would wonder should the disease visit the home 
of the Christian and enter no other at the time. 

No one believes more firmly than the writer in 
the plenary, verbal inspiration of the whole Bible, 
but he also believes in its dispensational teach- 



20 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

ing, without which it cannot be properly under- 
stood, and the wide-spread ignorance of which 
gives the Adversary such a rare opportunity for 
unsettling the Bible reader's faith. 

Let an infidel ask a child of God whose home 
is invaded by pestilence, how that occurrence can 
possibly harmonize with God's Word in Psalm 
91 : 10, and unless he knows how to rightly di- 
vide God's Word, what answer can he give? 
Thank God His Word is always true, but it must 
be properly understood, and nothing causes such 
confusion as the unintelligent mingling of pas- 
sages that have a specific application to Israel, to 
the Church, or to the world. 

All the Bible is for me, but all the Bible is not 
about me. I may read and prize it all, and from 
every page draw lessons and gain knowledge by 
studying examples, analogies, principles of truth, 
from God's dealings with man in all ages, but to 
literally apply promises, curses, admonitions, etc., 
indiscriminately to myself, will land me in the 
midst of hopeless difficulties and contradictions. 
As someone has said, "I may look over the shoul- 
der of another and read the letter in his hand, 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 21 

and from it gain many valuable hints, but for all 
that the letter is not addressed to me, nor does it 
apply to me primarily," and every Christian must 
admit the truth of this position. Ask one who 
has never even heard of dispensational truth, 
whether he is to order his life by Leviticus or by 
the New Testament Epistles, and he will at once 
answer, "The latter." Even with his little knowl- 
edge he knows that Leviticus has no direct appli- 
cation to him now. Some even get so far along 
as to speak of Law and Grace, and to say, "I am 
no longer under Law but Grace." But many 
who use these terms cannot explain them. If we 
are to be governed by all in the Old Testa- 
ment, then we would all be seventh day or Sab- 
bath observers, to say nothing of all the ritual 
requirements which would still be binding 
upon us. 

The foregoing argument also applies to Isaiah 
53. It is a favorite and a proper chapter from 
which to preach the Gospel (as we may also do, 
for that matter, from Genesis, the Tabernacle, or 
any other portion of the Word), as it refers to 
Christ's sacrificial death, and yet it is altogether 



22 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

Jewish in its cast. "We did esteem him stricken, 
smitten of God and afflicted" ; who could give 
utterance to such an expression but Israel ? And 
its fulfilment will come — the saying of the very 
words, when Israel accepts the Messiah revealing 
Himself in glory, recalling then with shame the 
former rejection of their king. 

As to the healing of Hezekiah's boil, it would 
be hard to prove that the figs were not medicinal 
and therefore a remedy, but, aside from this, what 
is shown here for divine healing? 

2 Chron. 16: 12, 13. Asa's case is often quoted 
with much ado, for is it not said, "yet in his dis- 
ease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physi- 
cian, and Asa slept with his fathers"? But 
frankly, why did Asa die? because he consulted 
a physician? No, assuredly not; but because "he 
sought not to the Lord." He turned his back on 
God, a thing which no child of God should do at 
any time, whether he has a physician or not. 

If it were true in these days that all who con- 
sult physicians immediately die, the monotony 
would soon put visits to physicians, and visits 
from physicians in bad repute, and the result 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 23 

would be more promptly effective to the discon- 
tinuance of remedies and doctors, than all of 
Dowie's fulminations against "doctors, drugs and 
devils." 

Besides which, in what a wrong position would 
this passage place at least one great teacher of 
divine healing, who frequently suggests that those 
who are not strong enough in faith to take the 
position that he advocates, of having the Lord 
alone as healer, should still resort to physicians. 
He is at least guilty of allowing or advising that 
against which the Bible has given (according to 
his own teaching) an awful warning. 

II. THE HEALING MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 

In explanation of these and in giving them 
their proper place, we think the following treat- 
ment will be found entirely satisfactory. 

First, That they were truly indicative of the 
Saviour's love for, and interest in, humanity; 
evidence of His abounding mercy and compas- 
sion, and freely performed by His great heart of 
pity. 

Again, They were tokens of His power, and 



24 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

attested His divine ability to order the very laws 
of nature to do His bidding. 

They, were also signs — as He Himself calls 
them — to attract attention to His teaching, and 
to prove its truth. This latter is clearly brought 
out in the narrative of the healing of the man 
sick of the palsy (Luke 5 : 24). 

Perhaps Godet's comments are as practical and 
inclusive as any short treatise extant: 

"For what purpose, then, were the miracles 
wrought ? Jesus calls them signs ; and so they 
were — external manifestations destined to make 
the weaker spirits understand the moral work He 
had come to accomplish in the race (comp. John 
6:26, 27). As His teaching was a miracle in 
words, so His miracles were a teaching in acts. 
By this means He revealed Himself as one who 
had the power of curing the spiritually blind and 
mute, the spiritual leper and palsy-stricken — as 
one who had the power of delivering souls from 
Satan, and freeing them from the eternal death 
which threatened them. Each group of His 
miracles illustrates a special side of that work of 
spiritual deliverance which He had come to ac- 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 25 

complish. But this is not all. When He extends 
His miraculous power to nature proper — stilling 
the storm, multiplying the loaves, etc. — He re- 
veals Himself, not only as the curer of the moral 
miseries of humanity, but also as the future re- 
storer of nature itself, and proves that He has the 
power of establishing perfect harmony between 
the whole universe and a sanctified humanity. 
Thus the miracles serve, not to produce faith in 
carnal hearts, but to make manifest to souls dis- 
posed to believe, or already believing, the riches 
of the treasure which have been offered them in 
the person of Jesus." 

This brings us to a question that is presented 
with great frequency and emphasis by the advo- 
cates of divine healing, viz : "Is not Jesus just the 
same today, and will He not perform His zvorks 
of mercy as freely now as ever?" This is consid- 
ered an attitude of impregnable security; but to 
us seems to indicate a very superficial knowledge 
of the Divine plan. 

True it is that Christ Jesus is just the same to- 
day, for He cannot change, but it is just as true 
that He is not now working as He did while upon 



26 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

the earth. To realize this it is merely necessary 
to note that He is not now raising the dead, 
as He did while here in physical form, for even 
the boldest fanatic living is not equal to claiming 
that any really dead are now being raised, or that 
this has occurred in all the centuries since apos- 
tolic times. 

This triumphant challenge "Is not Jesus just 
the same today?" so easily disposed of, affords a 
fair sample of the many fallacious arguments 
advanced by the advocates of the doctrine we are 
discussing. 

III. THE HEALING POWER OF THE APOSTLES 

is the next phase of the subject to be considered. 
They were so empowered and demonstrated their 
enduement, with miracles that are undisputed in 
the Divine record. Mark 16:15-18 is a strong 
quotation and much employed, nor have we any 
disposition to detract from its testimony, yet cer- 
tain truths must not be left out of our view, else 
we will be found false witnesses. 

Among these truths is the fact that, however 
"healers" may claim to have or be accredited with 
the power to restore the sick, they are not now 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 2J 

blessed with the ability to "speak with new 
tongues." Many holy, spirit-filled missionaries 
have gone forth to preach Christ in foreign lands, 
but whoever heard that a single one among them 
was enabled to speak, without more or less study, 
the language of the people? 

Furthermore, are Christians — the best among 
them — now exempt from the effect of snake- 
bites, and of deadly poisons? 

In reply to the question, "When was this au- 
thority or power abrogated ?" we take pleasure in 
quoting the sensible words of Albert Barnes. 
" 'and these signs/ i. e., these miracles. These evi- 
dences that they are sent from God. 'Them that 
believe' The apostles, and those in the primitive 
age who were endowed with like power. This 
promise was fulfilled if it can be shown that these 
signs followed in the case of any who believed, 
and it is not necessary to suppose that they would 
follow in the case of all. The meaning is, that 
they would be the result of faith, or of the belief 
of the Gospel. It is true that they were. These 
signs were shown in the case of the apostles and 
earlv Christians. The infidel cannot say that the 



28 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

promise has not been fulfilled unless he can show 
that this never occurred; the Christian should be 
satisfied that the promise was fulfilled if these 
miracles were ever actually wrought, though they 
do not occur now ; and the believer now should 
not expect a miracle in his case. Miracles were 
necessary for the establishment of religion in 
the world ; they are not necessary for its con- 
tinuance now." 

And further it may be said in answer to the 
question above raised, that while there is no defi- 
nite statement abrogating the miraculous power 
conferred upon the apostles, we find that even in 
their own experience, according to the Bible tes- 
timony — as the truth which they preached be- 
came more firmly established, especially among 
the Gentiles, the working of miracles became less 
conspicuous until it ceased entirely. To prove 
this one need only read the Book of Acts, where 
the gradual cessation of the exercise of miracu- 
lous powder cannot but be noticed. 

IV. THE GIFT OF HEALING. 

i Cor. 12: 9, 10 is the principal scriptural ref- 
erence, and it is so definite as to admit of no 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 2C) 

question that in the early church there was a 
special bestowment of miraculous power to some 
of its members for the healing of the sick, as 
there was also bestowed the gift to work> special 
miracles, to prophecy, to discern spirits, to speak 
other languages, to interpret the same, etc., etc. 

Here again the interest centers in the gift of 
healing, our friends making no pretense of be- 
lieving in the present existence of the other gifts. 

However, the question is an important one, as 
to the relation these gifts hold to the church in 
this period of its history. That they have ceased, 
is to our minds not even a question for discussion, 
for that any one today has, for instance, a genu- 
ing gift of healing, is to us, impossible of belief. 

Peter could say (Acts 9:34), "Eneas, Jesus 
Christ maketh thee whole. " Peter had such pow- 
er that even his shadow falling on the sick was 
effective for their healing — or, at least, so we as- 
sume (Acts 5:15); and handkerchiefs and 
aprons that had touched Paul's body were used 
for the restoration of the afflicted, as we find 
stated in Acts 19 : 12. In which connection it is 
recorded (and it is well to note the exact Ian- 



30 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

guage, v. 1 1 ) , "God wrought special miracles by 
the hands of Paul." How pitiable the compari- 
son, when these New Testament examples are 
placed side by side, with the claims made today 
by recognized leaders. We attended a well 
known meeting for Divine Healing once a week 
for six months, hearing much teaching on the 
subject, and seeing many persons anointed, but 
honesty forces us to state that in that time we 
never saw one case of healing that could be 
demonstrated. 

Dowie had quite an array of crutches on his 
tabernacle wall, but there were so many authen- 
ticated cases proving that his victims had sur- 
rendered them prematurely, and that they were 
just as much in need of them afterward, as to in- 
validate the claim of his power. 

How gladly would the writer acknowledge and 
advertise the possessor of this gift today if he 
could be found. Such a miracle worker would 
be the wonder of the world ; even one who by his 
beneficent ministry, in the wards of hospitals, and 
wherever the sick were found, would prove his 
power beyond question. 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS." 31 

There are two views held by Protestant Chris- 
tians, as to the cessation of these gifts. First, 
and this is the view held by the Irving- 
ites, that they were forfeited by the church's 
guilt. History tells the painful story of the fail- 
ure of Irvingism in its effort to re-establish the 
Apostolic Church. There was no life in the 
image it erected. The clock would not run. 

Second, that they were extinguished by God 
as no longer necessary, being designed as tem- 
porary gifts, which having performed their ser- 
vice were discontinued. 

But would not the gift be restored if Christians 
were to come back to a simpler faith and a truer 
devotion to God? 

In answer we may safely say, Perhaps. And 
yet it is seriously to be questioned whether the 
operation of this power hinges here at all ; surely 
not, if it is not God's plan for the period. He 
has had saints in every age, and has them now, 
heroes of devotion and faith, but for all that there 
is no manifestation of healing pow r er like that 
exercised by the Apostles. And until the church 
really possesses the power let her make no empty 



$2 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

claim. Enthusiasm should not be allowed to out- 
strip Truth. When God really works miracles, 
no labored arguments are needed to substantiate 
them ; they speak for themselves, with convincing 
power. 

While recognizing the gift of healing in the 
early church, it will not be amiss to refer to some 
other facts that are also in the inspired record, 
viz: the case of Timothy, with weak stomach, 
and often infirmities. Many futile efforts have 
been made to explain away this damaging testi- 
mony, one of the most unique among them being 
that of a brother who gave it as his opinion that 
the water where Timothy lived was bad, and 
therefore Paul gave directions for the substitu- 
tion of wine ( !). 

The Apostle Paul himself was subject to in- 
firmities, the most distressing of which was the 
sore eyes (or some similar physical ailment) with 
which he was afflicted. He was also compelled to 
leave Trophimus sick at Miletum. 

John wishes above all things for the physical 
health of the beloved Gaius, whose body was evi- 
dently cast in a delicate mould. 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 33 

While dealing not with theories of what might 
be, under given circumstances, but with facts 
as they are, it is well to remember that two of the 
saintliest men of modern times, men whose lives 
were examples of the power of Faith, and who 
are considered ornaments to the Christian 
Church, made no claim to the possession of the 
gift of healing, nor did they even accept the so- 
called doctrine of "divine healing." We refer to 
George Miiller of Bristol and to Hudson Taylor. 

Spurgeon has well said, "Until we get wings 
and can fly, let us be content to use our legs like 
ordinary mortals." 

V. DIVINE LIFE. 

As to the significance of this term we confess 
our inability to clearly comprehend it. We have 
read much concerning it, and heard more, but it 
still remains somewhat vague and illusive. 

The claim seems to be that the Christians who 
accept divine healing by faith become possessed 
of a different kind of physical life from others. 
It has to do with "breathing in" some influence 
that is said to work a change in their bodily con- 
dition, pre-empting from sickness and disease. 



34 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

It pains us to recall some of the professions 
and testimonies we have heard in this connec- 
tion. They were so coupled with the person of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, as to make them seem to 
our ears, grossly familiar and irreverent, though 
we readily agree they were not so intended. 

The argument is carried to an extreme position 
when it is claimed that the body of the believer 
becomes so identified with Christ's body that it is 
animated by some kind of supernatural life. It 
is further boldly asserted, that the bones of such 
will not, or cannot be broken, because not a bone 
of the Saviour's body was broken. 

Alas ! alas ! We have seen the strongest pro- 
fessors of this high claim, become subject to and 
die from the common diseases of humanity, and 
in several cases know of falls and accidents, in 
the very midst of the work, which resulted in 
badly broken bones ; not to speak of the many 
shattered bodies of chronic invalids, in which the 
spark of physical life flickered painfully. 

Furthermore, this so-called divine life seems to 
offer no guarantee against baldness, and loss of 
teeth, eyesight and hearing. Our friends may 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 35 

disclaim the use of M.D.'s, but they call as fre- 
quently as others upon the Doctor of Dental Sur- 
gery, and the optician. 

Consistency, O thou jewel ! 

What we have herein said does not conflict in 
any way with the blessed fact that conformity to 
God's will is in a general way conducive to phys- 
ical health. The path of simple obedience is the 
path of peace; and a peaceful heart, a heart 
cleansed by the blood of Christ, in-dwelt by the 
Holy Spirit, and cheered by the promises of God, 
may well have as its accompaniments a clear con- 
science, calm nerves and a courageous purpose, 
all of which are surely productive of bodily vigor. 



iFuriljer ^rrtptural iExpostttrnta 

ROMANS 8: II. 

^^THE use of this passage in the cause that is 
^Jj being questioned, is another example of 
of the bold misappropriation of Scripture 
so common. Without any reasonable study of 
the context, or the use of any sensible analogy, 
the verse is taken to mean that the mortal bodies 
of believers will be freed from disease and re- 
stored to physical health. What a low plane of 
interpretation ! The real meaning is something 
much better and higher, the analogy of the Sav- 
iour's resurrection, being beautifully employed to 
illustrate the work of the Spirit in raising us up 
to a real life of spiritual victory and activity, a 
meaning which the succeeding verses fully carry 
out. 

Let us quote the words of an able expositor: 
"I understand the word 'quicken' as referring to 
the body, as subject to carnal desires and pro- 
pensities ; as by nature under the reign of death, 
and therefore mortal. The sense is, that under 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 37 

the Gospel, by the influence of the Spirit, the en- 
tire man is made alive in the service of God. 
Even the corrupt, carnal, and mortal body, so 
long under the dominion of sin, is made alive, 
and recovered to the service of God. This is 
done by the Spirit that dwells in us, because that 
Spirit has restored life to our souls ; because He 
abides with us with His purifying influence ; and 
because the design and tendency of His indwell- 
ing is to purify the entire man, and to restore all 
to God. Christians thus in their bodies and in 
their spirits become sacred. For even their body, 
the seat of "evil passions and desires, becomes 
alive in the service of God." 

james 5 : 14. 
Without devoting any time to the question as 
to whether the oil to be used possessed any medi- 
cinal or healing virtues, though some high au- 
thorities contend for this as being well under- 
stood in Eastern lands; and without raising any 
question as to the identity of the "elders" to be 
called; in fact, being quite willing to accept the 
oil as symbolical, and the "elders" to refer to 
modern pastors and office bearers in any local 



38 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

church or assembly, and being more than willing, 
even eager, to emphasize and urge the propriety 
and importance of having Christians take a deep 
interest in those who are sick, by visiting them 
and unitedly praying for them with sympathy, 
and in faithful dependence on God, yet we cannot 
agree to the extreme position taken by many as 
to this verse. To such we commend the follow- 
ing words of truth and soberness on "The prayer 
of faith/' by Albert Barnes : 

"The prayer offered in faith, or in the exercise 
of confidence in God. It is not said that the par- 
ticular form of the faith exercised shall be that 
the sick man will certainly recover ; but there is 
to be unwavering confidence in God, a belief that 
He will do what is best, and a cheerful commit- 
ting of the cause into His hands. We express 
our earnest wish, and leave the case with Him. 
The prayer of faith is to accompany the use of 
means, for all means would be ineffectual without 
the blessing of God. 'Shall save the sick, and the 
Lord shall raise him up! This must be under- 
stood, as such promises are everywhere, with this 
restriction, that they will be restored to health 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 39 

if it shall be the will of God ; if He shall deem it 
for the best. It can not be taken in the abso- 
lute and unconditional sense, for then, if these 
means were used, the sick person would al- 
ways recover, no matter how often he might 
be sick, and he need never die." 

As to the act of anointing with oil we quote 
Whitaker, an old English divine. "Let them use 
oil who can by their prayers obtain recovery for 
the sick; let those who cannot do this, abstain 
from using the empty sign." In this connection 
let us imagine ourselves at a modern healing 
meeting where these directions in James are sup- 
posed to be followed. 

After an address appropriate to the occasion, 
a number of afflicted ones present themselves. 
Now, let us ask the elders, "Can you offer the 
prayer of faith?" This is the vital, essential 
point. They must either answer Yes or No. They 
will hardly answer in the affirmitive, for con- 
scious of their lack of power, they usually in ad- 
vance disclaim any personal ability to help the 
sufferers. 

But should they answer Yes, and taking for 



40 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

granted that the answer is true, then we know 
that every one of the candidates will be healed, 
for this is the promise. If the answer is No, then 
wherein lies the purpose of the anointing with 
oil ? That is merely a sign or symbol, which any- 
one can perform. It is the prayer of faith that 
saves the sick, and if this is absent, the anointing 
is merely an empty form. The force of the above 
aspect of the case appeals strongly to us in view 
of the fact, before stated, that in a weekly at- 
tendence of six months on a meeting for healing, 
during which time hundreds were anointed, we 
saw no one healed. 



i^aiutg ttt X\\t Atone mt ttt 



^^HIS phrase represents the citadel of the 
\^ position we are combating, and of itself is 
a perfectly correct expression. The Atone- 
ment includes healing for the body, as it includes 
every other blessing named in the Word of God. 

But while admitting this, we feel that it will be 
an easy task to show that the beneficient and glo- 
rious work of the Atonement is progressive in 
its development, and that physical healing is 
among the blessings whose full enjoyment is yet 
future. 

To plainly illustrate our meaning, let us take 
the promise of the resurrection of the body. This 
is to be one of the happy results of the Atone- 
ment. It is sure and unalterable, and yet we are 
by necessity obliged to wait for its fulfilment. 
Its occurrence will mark one of the stages in the 
development of the progressive work of the 
Atonement. 

In like manner is perfect bodily health a future 



42 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

accompaniment of the complete restoration which 
our Lord's victorious death and resurrection won 
for us, but from every viewpoint cannot be fully 
possessed until the Millennial age is ushered in. 
Our Lord will surely restore all things, but His 
plan covers the ages, and His followers must 
patiently wait for its unfolding. 

A passage which is often quoted in this con- 
nection is that in Matt. 8: 17, "That it might be 
fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, 
saying, Himself took our infirmities and bare our 
sicknesses." 

This is used to sustain "Healing in the Atone- 
ment," though there is no mention of any such 
thing. The miracle which the Saviour here per- 
formed was in itself a fulfilment of the prophecy 
in Isaiah 53 : 4, from which it is quoted, and 
moreover was performed by our Lord in His life, 
before He reached -the Cross of suffering and 
death. 

If there is complete healing for the body 
through the Atonement, it seems a most difficult 
blessing for many to secure now. 

Many are constantly "believing for it," and yet 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 43 

not securing it, while those who claim to have it, 
frequently lose it, all of which makes it so unlike 
the other present benefits of the Atonement. He 
who is saved by faith is not every little while los- 
ing his salvation. He who receives the Holy 
Spirit does not lose Him, for He remains an 
abiding guest in the believer's heart. 

Then there is the fact that will not down, and 
to which we have already referred, that many 
who do not believe that physical health is a dis- 
tinctive blessing of the Atonement, in the sense 
held by "divine healing" followers, are neverthe- 
less strong and robust. 

This brings us to a serious charge against some 
"divine healers," who while definitely insisting 
on the doctrine of "healing in the atonement," 
yet kindly make allowance for those of their fol- 
lowers who, being considered weak in faith, still 
resort to physicians and remedies in the stress of 
real sickness and pain. The "point" in the charge 
is this, that if the atonement made by Christ on 
the cross includes healing of the body for the be- 
liever now, then it is clearly a denial of its effi- 
cacy for the believer to employ material remedies 



44 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

for his recovery, and he who condones or sanc- 
tions such denial for any reason, is guilty of a 
grievous sin. 

In the interest of fairness, this one thing at 
least may be placed to Dowie's credit, viz: that 
he was guilty of no weakness, or inconsistency 
here. To him there was healing in the Atone- 
ment for all believers now, and therefore the use 
of doctors and drugs was always a denial of 
Christ's atoning work, and consequently an un- 
pardonable offense, and as such mercilessly con- 
demned. 

(The above paragraph pertains to Dowie in the 
hey-day of his success. All the world knows of 
his miserable failure since, from every stand- 
point.) 



flrarttral ©bamratuma 



^ti N introducing a chapter on practical obser- 
mfl vations, involving cases either under our 
personal view, or so well known as to pre- 
clude question, we would say that there seems to 
be a subtle attraction to many Christians in the 
prospect of being able to assume a position of 
spiritual superiority over their fellows. And we 
know of no profession that so encourages this at- 
titude as that of "divine healing." 

There is such a delicate and refined sense of 
spiritual pleasure in feeling that one has reached 
a plane in divine apprehension and enjoyment, a 
little higher than the great mass of Christians, 
and we are of the opinion that this tendency par- 
takes in some degree of the nature of the second 
temptation endured by our Lord, when He was 
urged by Satan to cast Himself from the pinnacle 
of the temple. Presumption formed the element- 
ary sin here presented. Faith is one thing, and 
fanaticism is another. The Saviour undoubtedly 



46 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

had the power to descend from the pinnacle 
through the air without injury, but there was no 
occasion for the manifestation of such a miracle. 
The pinnacle was ordinarily reached by a stair- 
way, he had ascended by it, and by means of the 
stairway He would also descend. 

We would also here take occasion to treat that 
question that is often put to those ordinary 
Christians, who while taking the position that it 
is God's will that they should be sick, yet take 
remedies in order to recover. The question pre- 
sented to such, by the advocates of divine heal- 
ing, being, "If it is God's will that you should 
suffer, why do you seek, by employing means, to 
recover? Why not be submissive to His will, 
and remain in your present distress, until God 
effects a change?" To us this question, which 
seems to be so logical and conclusive, represents 
the merest sophistry. For while it is true that 
every condition and circumstance of our life is 
permitted by God, and in a sense may be said to 
be His will, yet we know that we are constantly 
making choices and decisions, and performing 
actions with a view to changing our lot, and that 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 47 

too not in any way from a spirit of opposition to 
God's will, but animated by prayer and a desire 
to please Him. For instance, a Christian man 
with a dependent family is out of employment, 
day after day passing without his being able to 
secure a position. It is undoubtedly God's per- 
missive will that he should be so situated, but 
would he be justified in quietly folding his hands 
and in waiting for work to find him? Not at all. 
Our friends of the contrary part would doubtless 
soon designate him as being lazy. No, rather 
would he be commended for leaving no stone un- 
turned in trying to find a place and wages. The 
application is plain and indisputable. Many 
other illustrations could be used to prove the same 
conclusion. 

Another phase of teaching that we have no- 
ticed, and one that brings "divine healing" dan- 
gerously near to Christian Science (though in 
the main we admit they are far apart), is that in 
which the sufferers are admonished to "take 
their healing by faith," "to claim it," "to ignore 
symptoms," "to count it done." etc., etc., and 
consequently we know of many who testify to be- 



48 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

ing healed when any observer can see that such is 
a false claim. 

The most distressing case of this prevailing 

INCONSISTENCY 

to come under our notice, is that of one who suf- 
fered from boyhood with a diseased spine, which 
seemed to necessitate the wearing of a special ap- 
pliance. This was removed at the earnest solicita- 
tion of the patient, who has not since resumed it, 
but he was never healed, and is today, and he has 
been all along a painful example of that oppres- 
sive malady "locomotor ataxia," or something 
quite similar. 

No one questions his godliness, but to many it 
is altogether incomprehensible how he could write 
and issue a pamphlet, in which his case is so 
stated as to cause those who have not seen him, 
to believe that he was and is truly healed. 

This illustrates how misleading are the claims 
often put forth. So eager are those friends to 
advance evidence for their position that they fre- 
quently cite cases and give testimonies that have 
no warrant in fact. In the book entitled "A 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 49 

Study of Faith Healing,"* by A. T. Schofield, 
M.D., the author gives a striking instance of this 
practice. We quote from page 112: "I read a 
most interesting case of such apparent cure in 
Dr. A. J. Gordon's Ministry of Healing. It is a 
story told by a doctor of the healing of his son, 
who broke both bones of his forearm. His uncle, 
a leading Chicago surgeon, put the arm in splints, 
bandages and a sling. Next morning the child 
begged to have them all removed, but was told he 
must wear them for six weeks before the arm 
would be well. 'Why, papa,' he replied, 'it is 
well !' and then he told his father how he had 
asked Jesus to make it well, and it was well. The 
father did not like to chill his faith, and sug- 
gested he should ask his uncle. So he went to 
him and told him, 'Jesus had made his arm well/ 
The uncle pooh-poohed the idea, and sent him 
away. The next morning the boy pleaded again 
he was well, and almost persuaded his father it 
was so. At last, to satisfy him, the uncle took off, 
very reluctantly, the splints and bandages, and 



* Published by Fleming H. Revell Co. 



50 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

exclaiming, 'It is well, absolutely well !' hastened 
to the door to keep from fainting. 

"This story impressed me much, but I felt I 
could not quote it, as I had not verified it. It is 
well I did delay, for I find, from an interesting 
work on faith-cures by Mr. Gliddon, that it has 
been investigated by Dr. James Henry Lloyd, of 
the University of Philadelphia, and the result 
published in the (American) Medical Record 
for March 27, 1886, in the form of a letter from 
the very child, who says : 

" 'Dear Sir : The case you cite, when robbed of 
its sensational surroundings, is as follows : the 
child was a spoiled youngster, who would have 
his own way, and when he had a green stick 
fracture (the bones only partly broken) of the 
forearm, after having had it bandaged for sev- 
eral days, concluded he would much prefer going 
without a splint. To please the spoiled child, the 
splint was removed, and the arm carefully ad- 
justed in a sling. As a matter of course, the 
bones united, and being only partially broken, of 
course all the sooner. This is the miracle. Some 
nurse, or crank, or religious enthusiast, ignorant 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 5 1 

of matters physiological and histological, evi- 
dently started the story, and unfortunately my 
name — for I am the party — is being circulated in 
circles of faith-curites, and is given the sort of 
notoriety that I do not crave. — Carl H. Reed/ 

"I may add, the date of the second edition of 
Dr. Gordon's book that contains the story, but 
not the reply, is 1886, the year that this letter 
appeared." 

We have also observed quite a variation in the 
admonitions and directions as to how to secure 
the practical blessing of healing, and these diver- 
gences often by the same speakers. Sometimes 
the blessing is presented as difficult of obtain- 
ment. "You must fight to get it," etc., etc., while 
at other times it would be shown to be as easy of 
attainment as breathing. Whether or not these 
contradictory directions account for the failure of 
so many to attain, the fact remains that the great 
majority still merely abide in hope. 

Indeed the proof that there are still difficulties 
in the way of the smooth operation of this doc- 
trine may be seen even among the champions and 
veterans of the cause. One noted leader, to whom 



52 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

many look up with admiration, has for years been 
dreadfully near-sighted, and at every service has, 
in trying to read without glasses, squinted even as 
do many non-professors, while his teeth have 
fallen out betimes without any more ado than in 
the case of any other human being. This re- 
minds us of the challenge sometimes flung out 
by a stout Scotch matron, who at the healing 
meeting, while testifying, would cry in strident 
tones, "Ah, it's well enough to say 'The Lord is 
your healer/ but who's your dentist?" Whereat 
there would be a guilty ducking of many heads. 

Another inconsistency is presented in the speed 
with which, when ailments come, a physician is 
consulted, "but not for treatment, O dear, no — 
merely for diagnosis, you know !" We can see 
something to commend in this course, for in the 
desire to see of just what nature the ailment is, 
there is at least no chance to charge the person 
with having any Christian Science sympathies, 
for that cult denies the very reality of physical 
disorder, which of course precludes diagnosing. 

Sometimes indeed the medical fraternity is 
even in a more pronounced way made use of. A 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 53 

young lady adherent of the movement was ac- 
knowledging that her mother (a long-time dis- 
ciple), had broken her arm by a fall. "Did you 
call a doctor?" inquired the lady with whom she 
was conversing. "No," was the answer, "we 
merely had a surgeon to set the bones, and to 
bind up the arm." And the tone conveyed the 
impression that no compromise had been made, 
and that the action w T as the proper one for them 
under the circumstances. The doctrine as to the 
non-breaking of the believer's bones seemed to 
have been thrust into utter oblivion for the time, 
so that it had no inconvenient bearing on the case, 
though on previous occasions it had been pre- 
sented with charming confidence. 

As a further example of the inconsistencies 
constantly encountered in any investigation of 
this subject, we make reference to the common 
and frequent testimony of sufferers that they 
have been cured of one ailment but not of an- 
other, though they were still expectant that it 
would also soon yield. 



54 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

Under the head of 

FALSE CLAIMS. 

we cite the case of an attractive woman, active 
in Christian work, and strong in her belief in 
"divine healing," who was taken ill with small- 
pox, and, while yet ignorant of the nature of her 
disease, traveled to her parents' home in an ad- 
joining State, where she was examined (but not 
treated) by physicians, and then well supplied 
with every attention, including competent nurses. 
The disease ran its course, and her strong consti- 
tution finally emerged from the ordeal with no 
seeming injury. All this is certainly a frequent 
occurrence. Doctors are often unable, in cer- 
tain diseases, to add anything efficient to good 
nursing and attention, and yet in this case, about 
which there was nothing at all remarkable, the 
patient gives a thrilling account of her miraculous 
recovery on the ground of "divine healing." Tru- 
ly God should have the glory in this, as in all 
other instances of recovery, but there was noth- 
ing distinctive about the one we have named. 

EXCUSES AND EXPLANATIONS 

are of necessity much employed in this cause. 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 55 

They are many, varied, unique, ingenious, and 
alas, often disingenuous. 

"Why do you wear two pairs of glasses, when 
you read?" was asked of a particularly zealous 
advocate of divine healing, who was prone to 
criticise and condemn other Christians for using 
remedies. He had evidently been asked before, 
and had his answer ready, 'T was born with a 
peculiar formation of the eyes, and their condi- 
tion is not therefore a disease, nor a deformity. 
The case is similar to that of a person born with 
red hair." 

A dear old saint, who was considered a bul- 
wark of the faith, had for years a goitre, though 
it was usually fairly well concealed. When asked 
by some younger disciples about it she said, 
"Dear children, I have asked the Lord for years 
to remove it, but as He does not do so, I feel that 
it must be His will to have me endure it." No 
one will object to this, only it is a clear convic- 
tion of the baselessness of the doctrine. 

She also sometimes spoke of her arm, once 
broken, and which healed without physician or 
surgeon, but alas, it was crooked at the break. 



56 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

Almost any doctor could have made a better job 
of it, and it was therefore hardly fair to exhibit 
it as a sample of God's healing power. This 
good woman died of cancer. 

The painful death of Dowie's daughter by 
burning in his own home, gave opportunity for 
the offering of an excuse or explanation, the rank 
boldness of which is almost staggering. It seems 
that the "First Apostle" had some time previous- 
ly (or was it a convenient fiction?) forbidden the 
use of alcohol in Zion, and the flame which set 
fire to the young lady's dress came from a small 
alcohol lamp, which she was using in arranging 
her morning toilet. Therefore the stern, and 
above all things righteous father declared at the 
funeral without hesitation, that it was an act of 
disobedience that led to his child's death. And 
strange to say, this strained, unnatural and heart- 
less expression of judgment instead of alienating 
his followers, and bringing doubt and disintegra- 
tion to "Zion," had the effect, w r e are told, of 
uniting his followers more closely ; thus showing 
the power of fanaticism when directed by the 
strong hand of a master. 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 57 

In a little pamphlet before us by an English 
minister, in favor of divine healing, is a chapter 
on "Delayed Healings. " It had to be inserted 
in conformity with facts, but in itself is a good 
answer to many of the other dogmatic statements 
elsewhere presented. Taken separately it is a 
good argument against "divine healing," as com- 
monly taught. 

The common and most ready of all explana- 
tions of failure is "lack of faith." How conven- 
ient and unanswerable this attitude is, can at once 
be seen. It puts the matter beyond all contro- 
versy, as the sick one has no way of proving that 
he has faith enough. 

Yet we remember the gentle and touching 
question once put by an aged saint of God who 
was fast losing his eyesight, and who though 
prominent in his denomination, and realizing that 
he would be criticised for doing so, attended a 
humble meeting of believers in divine healing. 
He said to them : "I am willing now to be anoint- 
ed, or to take any other outward step that is com- 
mended to me, with no care as to what may be 
said by my friends. You say that my healing is 



58 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

only dependent on my faith, I am willing to have 
the faith, but must it not be imparted to me by 
God?" There was no answer. 

More sad it is for us to record that in a partic- 
ularly distressing case, where the applicant for 
healing had persisted in coming, and was faithful 
in meeting all requirements without any favor- 
able result, the harsh and horrible explanation 
given to him was, that he had a devil. 

To even describe in brief the instances of 
abject 

FAILURE 

that have come under our observation, and that, 
too, when all so-called conditions had been ful- 
filled, would alone require an ample volume. We 
will therefore be content to refer to only a few 
in addition to those already referred to. As a 
preface it is well to note that "Healing Homes," 
"Faith Homes," etc., are notoriously incompetent 
to deal with contagious diseases. Imagine the 
consternation of the managers if a case of small- 
pox, or scarlet fever were brought for treatment ! 
But such an extreme illustration need not be 
employed to show the lack of real power. We 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 59 

have known persons to be heartlessly turned 
away who were suffering with some ordinary 
ailment, though of a chronic nature, and whose 
presence would require more or less attention, 
with no great prospect of financial remuneration. 
All at once it would be discovered that their own 
home was the best place for such patients. 

Again, to shift the scenes. A young mission- 
ary has just reached Africa, with high ideals, and 
earnest purpose, together with a firm belief in 
the doctrine of "divine healing," Which he has 
sincerely and fervently accepted at headquarters 
before going forth. 

As he journeyed into the interior with the sup- 
erintendent, a godly man, with a practical mind, 
and with yeans of experience in Africa — he is 
asked whether he has fortified his system against 
the deadly African malaria and fever. "No," he 
replies, from his high attitude, "I would con- 
sider it a step backward to return to remedies," 
and advances the usual arguments for his faith. 
Within two weeks they laid him away to rest. 

The superintendent was a man of faith, but he 
knew that quinine was an antidote to the malaria 



6o DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

of Africa, and had often proven its efficacy, while 
laboring there for years. 

A certain prominent leader in the work, was 
wont to relate with much positiveness how he had 
once been raised from a dying bed, and how 
strong he now was, etc. He had traveled exten- 
sively and maintained his testimony for a long 
time, and yet finally succumbed quickly to the 
conditions encountered in Africa, while on a visit 
there. 

We assure our readers that it is only with a 
feeling of great sadness that we refer to cases 
like that of the saintly Dr. A. J. Gordon, who held 
this doctrine for years, who wrote a book upon it, 
and yet who finally passed away a victim to dis- 
ease. 

Poor discredited Dowie, is one of the latest 
examples, as smitten with paralysis he awaits an 
ignominious end. 

The following is a clipping (without amend- 
ment) from a daily paper, noticed while prepar- 
ing these pages, and as an illustration it tallies 
with hundreds of similar cases, where the doc- 
trine fails to work: 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 6l 

PRAYERS FAIL TO SAVE BABY. 

Father Held for Failing to Call Physician 
When Child Had Typhoid. 

Philadelphia, Feb. 23. — Daniel Bates, who 
doesn't look like a religious fanatic, was held to- 
day on the charge of permitting his two-year-old 
daughter to die of typhoid fever without provid- 
ing a physician or giving her medicine. 

"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away," 
said Bates in explanation. He said he belonged 
to the "Faith Tabernacle," a little church of 300 
members, who believe in reliance on prayer only, 
as a remedy for sickness and injury. 

"How did you and your parents expect the 
child to recover when it was neglected in such 
a manner?" one of Bates's daughters was asked 
by the Coroner. 

"We do not believe in the use of medicine or 
physicians," she said, "but have confidence in 
healing by prayer; and as all of us prayed we 
thought the child would recover. Another little 
sister of mine was seriously ill not long ago and 
she was saved by our prayers." 



62 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

Rachel Bates told the Coroner that she did not 
think it was due to any fault of her father or any- 
body else that the child died. "For eight years," 
she said, "we have trusted in the Lord to relieve 
us of all ills, and during that time have not both- 
ered with physicians or medicine." 

Our last example is one which in a marked way 
tells the lesson we are seeking to convey. 

A minister of high standing in the work, and 
its chief representative in a large city, is taken ill 
and promptly there gather about him, the mem- 
bers of his congregation and believing friends, 
who go properly through the prescribed forms of 
anointing, laying on of hands, etc., etc., and 
though the patient shows no sign of improve- 
ment, they rejoice in the prospect of his early 
recovery. But instead, he continues in pain, and 
rapidly grows worse, notwithstanding their re- 
doubled efforts. Nothing seems to avail, until 
it is evident the loved one is dying. When this 
seems assured, they change their attitude, and 
now see that the time of his departure has arrived, 
and that, his work being done, the Lord is about 
to take him home, and so become reconciled to 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 63 

the conditions. But for legal reasons they con- 
sider it important to send for a physician. He 
arrives and begins an examination, and soon dis- 
covering the nature of the ailment, applies a 
bandage and gives his remedies, with the happy 
result that the sick man is soon up and about, as 
busy as ever in the service of his Lord. A clear 
case to an unprejudiced observer and one that 
speaks volumes ; and yet a few months later the 
recovered brother is again speaking on the plat- 
form at a large convention and his theme is "Di- 
vine Healing." 



Attttuto? 



^gi T would certainly hardly be fair to close the 
mfj treatment of this important subject with- 
out seeking to present the Christian's 
proper attitude. He is ever liable to sickness and 
disease, and, when not himself afflicted, is never 
free from witnessing suffering in others, whether 
friends, relations or neighbors. « 

First, then, we name as essential to a proper 
attitude, an intelligent understanding of the 
Word of God. We have tried to show that many 
of the scriptural arguments for "divine healing" 
are altogether without foundation, that in some 
instances they are grossly distorted and misap- 
plied, and we here add that not a single verse in 
the New Testament teaches that Christians in this 
age are to be exempt from physical afflictions. 
There is to be a new earth in which the inhabitant 
shall not say, "I am sick" (Isaiah 33:24), but 
that age has not yet dawned, and to make the ap- 
plication to the present is an unwarranted forcing 
of Scripture. 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 65 

That the Bible is opposed to material remedies 
for disease in the bodies of believers is another 
utterly false position, and one that has wrought 
untold harm. 

In a little book, "Divine Healing and Doc- 
tors; What Says the Bible ?"* the author sen- 
sibly states in the preface, "God can and doubt- 
less does heal without the use of material agen- 
cies ; but this is His extraordinary and unusual 
mode of working. His ordinary method is to 
heal in connection with the use of means. One 
may be a firm believer in divine healing and, at 
the same time believe in the use of remedies. 

"Christ taught us to pray, 'Give us this day our 
daily bread/ and yet all believe that to obtain this 
gift of daily bread there must be a diligent use 
of means." 

In the several chapters of his book the author 
shows, first, that there are but few references in 
the Bible to medicine and physicians, and ac- 
counts for it on the ground that the Bible is not 
a medical treatise, as it is likewise not a book on 
commerce or on astronomy. Then he gives all 



* Published by Fleming H. Revell Co. 



66 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

the direct scriptural references to remedies, and 
next the passages in which the use of remedies is 
implied, also all the illustrative and figurative al- 
lusions, and then closes with a chapter on "Con- 
clusions" from which we take the following ex- 
tracts : 

"We have now examined practically all the pas- 
sages that have a direct bearing upon the subject 
under consideration; and the conclusion is cer- 
tainly irresistible that the Bible is favorable to 
the use of medicine and the employment of phy- 
sicians." 

"But this conclusion does not in any w r ay imply 
that the Bible endorses all the nostrums and poi- 
sons that pass for medicine, and all the quacks 
and fakers that call themselves doctors, and the 
habit of saturating the human system with drugs. 
The Bible is unquestionably on the side of the 
church and the ministry and religion; but this 
does not imply that it endorses all the organiza- 
tions that are called churches, and all the fanatics 
and cranks that are trying to preach, and all the 
absurdities that are done in the name of religion." 

"While the Bible is favorable to the proper use 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 6j 

of remedies, it lays great emphasis upon the im- 
portance of prayer and the value of right rela- 
tions to God. He is the one "who healeth all thy 
diseases/ However the healing may come, 
whether direct or through remedial agencies it is 
from Him. The one who puts all his faith for 
recovery in medicines and doctors makes a seri- 
ous mistake. These have their place, but they 
should never displace Him 'in whom we live and 
move and have our being/ Asa's great mistake 
was not that he turned to the physicians but that 
he turned away from God. Perhaps no one un- 
derstands die limitations of his own work better 
than the physician himself, and the need of hav- 
ing his work supplemented by a wisdom and 
power greater than his own. The medical pro- 
fession will never attain its highest possibilities 
in dealing with the secret problems of that force 
we call life, until it becomes more reverent, and 
gives larger place to God. Every physician knows 
how strong the impulse of faith is in every hu- 
man heart." 

"In the wilderness the children of Israel re- 
ceived the manna without any intervening 



68 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

agency. But this was simply a temporary meas- 
ure. Later they were taught that the products 
of the 'land flowing with milk and honey' were 
just as truly from God as was the manna. In 
fact, the faith that saw God in the fruitful vine- 
yard and the rich harvests was in some respects 
a higher type of faith than that which saw Him 
in the giving of the manna and of the water in 
the wilderness/' 

The attitude of that eminently holy and yet 
wise and practical servant of God, John Wesley, 
was a happy and exemplary one. He had sub- 
lime confidence in God, and knew how to ascer- 
tain the will of God. Once when suffering with 
a cyst that seemed to require cutting and which 
involved some danger, he decided not to have the 
operation performed, saying, "I know a better 
way," and betaking himself to prayer, in a short 
time was marvelously relieved. Yet at other 
times he did not hesitate to use remedies both for 
himself and others. In fact in his constant visits 
among the people in all parts of the kingdom, he 
frequently prescribed for them himself, and was 
quite a successful physician in a humble way. 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 69 

Nowhere in his journal or in his sermons do we 
find expressions of belief in any special system 
or doctrine of "faith" or "divine healing/' though 
he is often unfairly claimed by the latter school. 

To show further the foolishness of the outcry 
against means, let us look at the subject from 
another standpoint, viz: Where is the line to be 
drawn between a rational use of nature's laws, 
and the use of its recognized remedies? 

Our friends sometimes make a show of using 
some of the common sense with which God usu- 
ally endows people, when with all their teaching 
of "faith" they deprecate violation of the laws 
of nature, even suggesting that a person could 
hardly expect healing who was careless in this 
regard. This is well and good, but why do they 
not also remember that there are remedial laws 
of nature, as well as prohibitive ones, and that if 
it is proper to observe the latter, it is also wise to 
make use of the former. 

If it is proper to wash the exterior of the body 
with soap and water, why not the throat with an 
appropriate cleansing antiseptic gargle after 



yo DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

breathing the heavy, poisonous, germ-laden at- 
mosphere, say of homes visited in slum work? 

If it is allowable to breathe deeply of fresh air 
for lung development and as an invigorator, why 
not on a more urgent occasion use some simple 
tonic in a more concentrated form? 

If fruit is commendable for its beneficial ef- 
fects, why not a salt extract from fruit when the 
liver is torpid? 

If tea, coffee, salads, some kinds of cake and 
pie, etc., are tabooed because they are consid- 
ered injurious, and on the other hand onions, 
lemons, apples, prunes, celery and other fruits 
and vegetables commended, do not these latter 
become medicinal? Why not also employ es- 
sences or extracts from them when more urgent- 
ly needed and when the fresh articles are out of 
season and cannot be procured? 

The action of some ordinary medicinal agents 
is so well established as to require no argument. 
Why not make use of them? 

Who is wise enough and watchful enough to 
distinguish between food and medicine in some 
of its simpler forms ; or to discern the differ- 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. Jl 

ence between hygiene and some remedial exer- 
cise commended by a physician? Are Turkish 
baths and massages under the ban ? 

What warrant does the doctrine of divine heal- 
ing give its advocates for their common employ- 
ment of the dentist, the optician, the hair and 
scalp specialist, or the manicure, since the teeth, 
the eyes, the hair and the nails are all portions 
of the body? 

Is it allowable for wealthy believers in "divine 
healing'' to resort to sea voyages, and to residence 
in the mountains for change of air — a practice 
quite common among them, and which they ad- 
vertise with a naivete unconsciousness of wrong- 
doing — while their poorer fellows are criticised 
for resorting to some less expensive method for 
bodily invigoration, even though it be a medi- 
cinal tonic? 

Let us be sensibly consistent in our attitude. 

One of the brightest things we have ever read 
on this subject is from the pen of that well-known 
colored evangelist, Amanda Smith. In an inter- 
esting way she tells of her conversion to the doc- 
trine, while still a washerwoman, by the reading 



*]2 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

of a little book which her children had picked out 
of an ash barrel; how she immediately threw 
away all her remedies, and for a time seemed to 
get along without the need of them. Then there 
came a day of illness, when the pain would not 
yield, though she prayed and fasted. Yet she 
persevered, and pleaded and persisted, until she 
suddenly perceived that she was actually dictat- 
ing to God the manner of her healing, and that 
her only proper course lay in becoming willing 
to be healed in any way. So guided, she em- 
ployed a simple remedy and was soon restored. 

She then told of an incident that occurred 
while being entertained during an evangelistic 
tour, in a home where both husband and wife 
were firm believers in "divine healing" ; how one 
morning the husband came downstairs complain- 
ing of deafness and pain in his ears ; how they 
followed the prescribed course without his secur- 
ing relief; and how, finally, the wife prevailed 
upon him to call on a physician, that the nature 
of the trouble might at least be known. He soon 
came back smiling and happy, with the joyful 
news that the pain was gone and his hearing re- 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 73 

stored, and then told them in explanation, "the 
doctor said the wax was pretty hard, but that 
he could remove it without any trouble." From 
this Amanda drew the lesson that some people 
were even expecting the Lord to clean their ears. 

OBVIOUS LIMITATIONS. 

In all fairness, must not every one admit that 
there are obvious limitations in God's dealings 
with men in this age. 

No Christian questions His power, but all must 
admit that in His all-wise providence He is not 
now operating as He has in other dispensations. 
Though infinitely just and righteous, He is not 
now visiting judgment on transgressors, and, on 
the other hand, though infinitely merciful and 
loving He is not now indiscriminately blessing 
His people with material tokens. He is not rais- 
ing the dead, or performing other miraculous 
deeds, as in former periods. 

Would the strongest believer in divine healing 
seriously look for God to place an eye in an 
empty socket, or to add a limb where one had 
been amputated? He could do so in an instant. 



74 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

But is such an act His will for this age? And 
this instead of being a hindrance to faith, should 
strengthen it; for real faith has as its basis 
perfect submission to the will of God. A con- 
fidence in Him, no matter what He gives or 
withholds. "Thy will be done," sounds the 
depths of true faith, as it also soars to the high- 
est possible altitude of genuine trust, and it is 
what God delights to hear from His own, no 
matter what the trial or discipline through which 
His child is passing. 

To say that sickness and bodily affliction is 
never for the glory of God, and thus to lift it out 
from all other forms of discipline to which the 
Christian is subjected, is a gratuitous and untrue 
assumption. Let suffering Christians know that 
God often wishes to display, among other things, 
the power of His sustaining grace in the person 
of His loved ones. 

Now how can He do this if there are no sub- 
jects by whom to demonstrate it? 

There must be suffering Christians to prove 
that there are Christians sustained in suffer- 
ing. Some have been selected as an exhibit; i. e., 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 75 

an object lesson like Paul, who said, i Cor. 4:9, 
"We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to 
angels and to men." 

Therefore let such endure their suffering with 
joy that God's glory may be revealed. How 
could the martyr spirit ever have been shown 
without martyrs? Make-believe nor almost- 
martyrs would not have served the purpose. They 
must be real martyrs, actually burned at the 
stake or otherwise cruelly executed, to show to 
all ages that there is something more powerful 
than fire, or the sword, or death in any form, 
even God's sustaining grace giving triumph over 
all. Said the apostle, when realizing this, "We 
glory in tribulation." Nor did he add "sickness 
excepted," for this very thing is undoubtedly re- 
ferred to on another occasion. "Most gladly 
therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, 
that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 
Cor. 12: 9). 

Ah, as it is only in the darkness that the bright- 
ness of the lamp's flame can be proven, so can 
trial and only trial demonstrate the Christian's 
faith. Submission is the first lesson in the 



j6 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

school of faith. And this first lesson will in 
God's wisdom be the problem "sickness/' as like- 
ly as any other, and the pupil who learns it will 
show the spirit of that Dr. Payson who when 
asked, while under great bodily affliction, if he 
could see any particular reason for the dispen- 
sation, answered, "No, but I am as well satisfied 
as if I could see ten thousand reasons; God's 
will is the perfection of all reason." 

Nothing in the foregoing pages should be un- 
derstood as teaching that God does not now heal, 
when it harmonizes with His plan ; and in such 
cases He graciously directs hearts and minds in 
the appropriate channels of thought and action. 
But we have tried to make it plain that this 
course is not a special feature for this present 
dispensation. 

But until God gives His child the "assurance 
of faith" that he is to be healed without remedies, 
in an unusual, miraculous way, let him not pre- 
sume and take a position that he cannot maintain. 

It is this spirit of fanaticism that has led to in- 
describable suffering and premature death, chil- 
dren and invalids being offered as sacrifices, and 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. JJ 

then unhallowed excuses given to cover the mis- 
erable failure. 

It is this also that has much to answer for in 
the fearful work of dividing families — the Adver- 
sary finding in it an effective medium to use in 
bringing coldness, distrust and separation be- 
tween husbands and wives, even when both are 
Christians. 

Let us admit that it cannot be questioned that 
now Christian Science, Spiritualism, Rome's 
"miracle-working relics," and other false sys- 
tems can boldly match any cases of healing that 
may be put forward. 

It is not our purpose to explain the wonderful 
claims made by agencies in whose teachings we 
have no confidence, though w r e must admit that 
many of these claims are shown to represent real 
occurrences and cannot therefore be disputed, 
but we believe this — that when God really begins 
to bare His arm to show His power, the tokens 
of the same will be so manifest as to cast a shad- 
ow on all the achievement of charlatans and sham 
wonder-workers. 

Jannes and Jambres could make serpents of 



78 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

their rods, and their power seemed for the time 
equal to that of Moses ; but there was a striking 
and convincing finale when Moses' serpent swal- 
lowed those of the enemies of his God. 



IflaUur? a«b Bntttss 



^jA T is certainly a high desideratum in dis- 
m\\ cussing the doctrine treated in this book 
to possess a comprehension of it that is 
capable of explaining the failures as well as the 
successes. Believers in divine healing are quick 
to herald far and wide all that looks to them like 
success as a result of their belief, but sadly fail 
(as we have repeatedly shown) to explain the 
many, many failures. # 

On the other hand, he who takes the view we 
have endeavored to set forth, can not only just as 
satisfactorily and just as much to the glory of 
God explain the successes, but can also explain 
the seeming failures, and in such a way as not to 
lay himself open to the charge of misrepresenta- 
tion, folly, fanaticism, or any other that an oppon- 
ent — be he the rankest infidel living — may seek to 
bring against him. 



ppraottal ©eattmnmj 



Tf i N giving- his personal testimony the writer 
mjj realizes that there is nothing extraordin- 
ary about it, and that many thousands of 
Christians could give similar accounts of bless- 
ing and deliverance received in God's common 
methods of dealing with His people in these 
days. But the experiences are nevertheless very 
precious, and are often recalled with a grateful 
heart. 

They might not evoke much enthusiasm in a 
"divine healing" gathering, but as they repre- 
sent real occurrences, he feels that he has as 
much right to recount them, as those with thrill- 
ing "faith" testimonies have to tell theirs. 

When his children — twins — were about five 
years old, they were taken sick with diphtheria — 
the heart beating violently and all symptoms 
pointing to a severe illness, especially in the case 
of the little boy. The parents looked at once to 
God for help, but also felt perfectly free to call 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 8l 

in a physician. Although in a strange city, they 
found an excellent one, who gave faithful and 
careful attention. Antitoxin was injected, and 
worked at once a noticeable improvement, so 
that the children were soon seen to be out of 
danger. After the usual amount of treatment 
and nursing, they came out of the sick room 
looking better and stronger than ever ; and to the 
praise of God, be it said, have never shown any 
ill effect of the ordeal. 

His wife was brought to death's door by hem- 
orrhage of the lungs, and for some weeks her 
life hung by a thread. Two physicians gave no 
hope, a third was optimistic, but failed to cause 
an improvement, or to suggest any special course, 
while the fourth definitely prescribed removal to 
a sanitarium in the mountains, where with much 
difficulty she was removed, though the chance of 
success in effecting the journey seemed as one in 
a thousand. So remedial were the mountain 
air and the specialist's treatment, that in three 
weeks she was able to leave the sanitarium, and 
is now, seven years later, enjoying excellent 
health. It is needless to say that during this time 



82 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

of trial, the husband was much in prayer and 
enlisted the prayerful interest of many other 
friends in various places, and to God he turns in 
gratitude for hearing and answering prayer. 

In laboring in the erection of a Gospel tent on 
the hottest day of a recent summer, the writer 
found himself in the evening, on his way home, 
many miles away, in great suffering and on the 
verge of collapse. Xever in his life had he been 
so oppressed with physical weakness. Passing a 
drug-store, he entered and stated his condition to 
the attendant at the soda fountain, though he 
was hardly able to make himself heard across 
the counter. 

He was quickly served with a small dose of 
some cholera mixture, and within a few minutes 
was walking down the street to the depot as 
sprightly as ever. His night's sleep was undis- 
turbed and the next day found him with his ac- 
customed strength. 

A few years later came an attack of pleurisy, 
which was the first illness in twenty-five years, 
requiring a physician. One night will stand out 
in memory in bold relief, because of its excruci- 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 83 

ating suffering — every short breath seeming to 
be the last, until he even longed for death to end 
his pain. But God had another purpose, and 
therefore the sedative administered brought re- 
lief in sleep, and followed by the frequent appli- 
cation of hot flax-seed poultices to the part of 
the chest affected, recovery began, and in a rea- 
sonable time came complete restoration. 

There was no relapse, no complications, and no 
injurious consequences, but an early return to the 
duties of a busy life in the service of God. 

The foregoing are simple facts, but they are 
facts. And they have a voice, and that voice 
speaks in praise of God's goodness and mercy, 
even though He saw proper to bring about the 
blessed results through the employment of hu- 
man skill and material remedies. 



Bxbt iCujfyta 



HOW GOD HEALS SICKNESS.* 

So much fanatical teaching is prevalent in re- 
spect to direct answer to prayer in the case of 
the restoration of the sick, that we would call 
special attention to the following letter, written 
by Dr. C. I. Scofield to one who was in trouble 
and asked advice on the subject. As the letter 
already has been a blessing to others, we have se- 
cured permission to give it to our readers in the 
hope that the concise presentation of the truth 
may prove more widely helpful. 

All Healing is of God. 

"If I understand either the broad teach- 
ing of the Scripture concerning the Father's 
minute providences in His watchful care over 
His own, or the special teachings concerning 
healing, I must testify that all healing is divine. 



; Editorial from Record of Christian Work. 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 85 

Whether remedies are used, or only the prayer of 
faith, the healing is of God. There is great un- 
belief on this point. Many Christians seem to 
fancy that by resorting to remedies they can keep 
their dear ones whether it be God's will or not. 
It is not so. No remedy avails when God is call- 
ing one of His children home. 

"The Bible testifies abundantly to the fact that 
God heals the sick by direct power, apart from 
remedies. It would be useless to quote passages 
to prove this ; they abound, both in the Old Tes- 
tament and in the Gospels. If we come this side 
of the personal ministry of Christ, we find the 
apostles healing by divine power. This, also, is 
incontestable. No one disputes it. 

The prayer of faith. 

But when this dispensation fully opens, 
that is, when we reach the Epistles, that portion 
of the Scripture especially given for the instruc- 
tion of the believer in this dispensation, the sub- 
ject is scarcely mentioned. Healing is enumer- 
ated among the gifts of the Spirit (i Cor. 12 : 9) ; 
John prays that Gaius may have temporal pros- 



86 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

perity and health according as his spiritual life 
may be (2 John 2) ; and James, writing to the 
twelve tribes scattered abroad, directs that if 
any are sick they (the sick ones) shall send for 
the elders, and gives the general promise that the 
'prayer of faith shall save the sick' (James 5 : 14, 
15). I do not, with some, limit that promise to 
the Jewish Christians, nor do I believe the anoint- 
ing with oil to be medical — a mere oil bath — but 
symbolical. But what is the prayer of faith? 
Surely John defines it. 'And this is the confi- 
dence that we have in him, that, if we ask any- 
thing according to his will, he heareth us' ( 1 John 
5: 14). But the Epistles have still more to say 
about sickness and bodily infirmity. Paul has a 
physical 'thorn/ physical as all agree. He prays 
thrice; then God stops him. The infirmity must 
remain. Whereupon Paul glories in it (2 Cor. 
11:7-10). For Timothy's stomach trouble he 
prescribes wine (1 Tim. 5:23). Trophimus he 
leaves at Miletum sick — without a hint that either 
Trophimus or himself ought to be in a bad con- 
science about it (2 Tim. 4: 20). 

"It comes, then, to this. God heals. There is 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 8/ 

no other healing. Sometimes He heals by direct 
power without remedies. He will always do this 
for those who, being sick, send for the elders, and 
are anointed with oil in the name of the Lord, 
provided the prayer of faith is among them. The 
result only can determine whether that prayer 
has been offered. 

Faith not a means of escaping God's will. 

But faith is not a means of escaping 
God's will, but of getting that will done. 
He could not give a faith by which something 
should be wrung from Him against His holy and 
perfect will ; nor could any reverent and trustful 
child of God wish Him to do so. Our extreme 
divine healing friends insist that it is always 
God's will to heal. To which I answer, (i) 
They do not prove it by clear and express Scrip- 
ture; and (2) if so, they are responsible for all 
death, since the prayer of faith will heal, and need 
not be that of the sick person. I regard, there- 
fore, your attitude of entire surrender of your 
child to the will of the Father as the attitude of 
true faith. It might please Him to give to you, 



88 ^ DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

or to some one of us, the prayer of faith. In that 
case how gladly we would wing it back to His 
gracious, loving heart. It may please Him to 
use climate, air, food, medicine for her healing. 
How glad we shall be if that be His loving will. 
It may please Him to take your little one to stay 
with her brother till He comes, Who 'will come 
and will not tarry.' Then we shall weep, but back 
of the tears we shall be glad in the perfect will 
of a perfect God. 

God provides means. 

I note some things. For instance, our friends 
ask us if God made the materia medico, of the 
doctors. One might as well ask if God made 
woolen cloth or wheat bread. 

"The answer is obvious. God made the wool, 
man makes the cloth. God made wheat, man 
makes bread. So God makes cinchona bark, out 
of which man extracts quinine ; God makes 
grapes, man makes wine, and Paul prescribes a 
little for Timothy. Such reasonings against 
remedies are childish. 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 89 

"But there is something far worse. When any- 
one tells you that God has made your child ill to 
chastise you and your family, because you do not 
hold a doctrine of divine healing which seems 
true to them, they misrepresent and slander our 
blessed heavenly Father. What ! He lay suffer- 
ing on your innocent child to flog you? Why, / 
would not do that; would you? And would our 
God ? Oh, monstrous ! 

"But let us beware of unfaith. Let us beware 
of saying that tuberculosis or anything else is in- 
curable. Nothing is too hard for God. Let us 
keep in unbroken and restful fellowship with 
Him, 'watching daily at his gates, waiting at the 
posts of his doors' ; swift to do what His Spirit 
or His providences may point out ; ready to send 
up the glad prayer of faith, or ready to use 
means. No disease is too deadly for his healing ; 
no medicine is powerful enough to overcome 
His will." 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 91 



THE JOY OF CONFIDENCE. 

Let me but hear my Saviour say, 
"Strength shall be equal to thy day;'' 
Then I rejoice in deep distress, 

Leaning on all-sufficient grace. 

I can do all things — or can bear 
All suffering, if my Lord be there ; 
Sweet pleasures mingle with the pains, 
While He my sinking head sustains. 

I glory in infirmity, 

That Christ's own power may rest on me ; 
When I am weak, then am I strong ; 
Grace is my shield, and Christ mv song. 



— Isaac Watts. 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 93 

THE WITNESS OF THE OLD TESTA- 
MENT. 

We should expect that a doctrine of so much 
importance as "Healing for the Body in the 
Atonement for this Age" would be foreshadowed 
in the law of the Levitical offerings where indeed 
every great truth of our Christian faith is out- 
lined with clearness and beauty ; but as a matter 
of fact there is not a single case of Divine Heal- 
ing in the Old Testament that was mediated by 
the Aaronic priesthood, or in which "blood/' the 
type of the Atonement was employed. The ap- 
plication of blood as we read of it in Leviticus 
XIV chapter, was not employed in healing the 
leper, but applied after his healing and as a testi- 
mony that he was now clean. Such cases of heal- 
ing in the Old Testament as that of Miriam, 
Naaman or Hezekiah, were instances of special 
miracles, and that such occur today, it is not the 
object of this book, as we have stated elsewhere, 
to dispute. 

Suggested by Rev. W. W. Mead. 



94 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

DR. J. M. BUCKLEY'S ANSWER TO A 

QUERY IN "THE QUESTION BOX" 

AT CHAUTAUQUA. 

Q. — Is the healing principle in faith healing 
and Christian Science the same? 

A. — There is no "principle of healing" in any 
of them. The healing is done by the strength of 
the medicine of nature. Believe and you will be 
healed, says the faith healer. The mental sci- 
entist simply produces certain conditions in the 
mind of the person to be healed; the Christian 
Scientist denies the reality of disease and forbids 
thinking about it. I know this to be true for I 
have healed people that way myself. I will give 
you four cases which I published in the Century 
Magazine. 

A woman was subject to fits of asthma and 
spasmodic headache. I took a common bronchial 
troche, and having powdered it, told her to put it 
in a tumbler of water and take a teaspoonful 
every hour, and by no means to drink a cup of 
tea within twenty-five minutes after taking the 
dose. These powders cured her headaches and 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 95 

kept off her asthma for seven months. At the 
end of that time someone told her that they 
weren't doing her any good. Then she lost her 
faith and the powders lost their virtue. 

Take another case : A party of people were 
gathered together to pray for a man who had 
rheumatism. After praying for some time, the 
leader, a woman with a penetrating glance, looked 
straight at the victim and said in a loud voice, 
"Elijah, rise and walk." Making a great effort 
he arose. He believed, but he fell head foremost 
on the floor, and it took the whole family to put 
him back into bed and he stayed there until he 
died. 

I will give you a third case. A woman had an 
almost insane delusion. She sent a brother of the 
church to me to say that she could never rise un- 
til I had come and taken her by the hand and 
commanded her to rise. Her husband was in 
despair for he did not feel able to hire a servant. 
I went in and said to her : "Mrs. Sylvester, do 
you think that God has revealed to you that you 
cannot rise unless I cause you to rise?" "I am 
sure of it," she said. "Very well, Elizabeth Syl- 



g6 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

vester," I shouted, "ARISE!" and she fairly 
bounded to her feet. 

The last case is this : A preacher in Canada was 
greatly excited at some intruders interfering with 
the meeting. He looked at the leader and said in 
a thunderous voice, "May God's curse light upon 
you!" The man fell to the ground and did not 
return to consciousness for two hours. When he 
did he was converted and became a great 
preacher. 

Some one will say, "Can't you explain all your 
Christian miracles in the same way?" Suppose 
we take the resurrection or the case of the man 
born blind. Confidence will indeed carry a great 
distance, but there are limits, and Faith Healing 
and Christian Science have their limitations. 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 97 



QUOTATION FROM IL SANTO (THE 
SAINT). 

Description of Professor Selva the saint : "He 
takes refuge in the Sabine Mountains, and again 
his saintliness becomes known in the district. He 
is believed to be capable of miracles ; sick and de- 
formed come to him from distant places. He is 
distressed at this, but his protests are not heeded. 
He does, in fact, heal the sick — through their 
own strong faith, as he vainly tells them. The 
poor peasants worship him; students and skep- 
tics come to study his ways, and finally he is de- 
nounced at Rome by plotters and enemies as a 
pretender and blasphemer. Again he is driven 
from his humble refuge. " 



98 DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 

COMFORT FOR THE SICK-ROOM. 

Bishop Foss's experience in sickness is pub- 
lished in tract form by Cranston & Stowe. Hav- 
ing read it at the time it first appeared, we have 
recently re-read it, and its closing passage is 
worthy of being borne into every sick-room. 
Bishop Foss says : 

Again and again it occurred to me what a happy out- 
come of my sickness it would be if the Saviour should 
come into my room in visible form and instantly heal 
me. I knew if He should come and say, "What wilt 
thou?" my quick response would be, "Lord, make me 
perfectly whole and perfectly holy." I did not pray for 
such a miracle, nor wish it; but day after day, in my 
quiet afternoon hours, the inspiring thought kept coming, 
"How grand a testimony it would be if, in these skeptical 
times, I might go forth proclaiming that in a single 
moment the audible word of the visible Christ had per- 
fectly cured me of a severe sprain, a broken bone, ty- 
phoid fever, and prostrating weakness; and if my testi- 
mony should be so confirmed by that of physicians and 
friends as to be lifted above the possibility of scientific 
doubt !" At length, when this thought had grown so 
familiar that the realization of it would hardly have 
surprised me, there came in place of it a strong impres- 
sion (like an audible voice, and yet there was no voice) 
sealing on my mind as never before the words: 
"Thomas, because thou hast seen Me thou hast believed. 
Blessed [I have always thought that means more 
blessed] are they that have not seen, and yet have be- 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. 99 

lieved." The delicious fancy of a possible miracle gave 
place to the solid fact of the greater blessedness of that 
dispensation of providence and grace which can trans- 
form and glorify all suffering; and this was a wondrous 
sweetener of my long trial. 

This is the genuine triumph of faith ; far above 
the comprehension of those who, if they can, sub- 
stitute faith for the ministry of affliction, or the 
use of the means which God has provided. The 
same wholesome doctrine pervades that wonder- 
ful book entitled Bella Cook. — Christian Advo- 
cate. 



DIVINE HEALING UNDER THE LENS. IOI 



GOD'S ANSWER. 

"The cry of man's anguish went up unto God, 

"Lord take away pain ! 
The shadow that darkens the world Thou hast made, 

The close coiling chain 
That strangles the heart, the burden that weighs 

On the wings that would soar — 
Lord take away pain from the world Thou hast made 

That it love Thee the more!" 

Then answered the Lord to the cry of His world, 

"Shall I take away pain 
And with it the power of the soul to endure 

Made strong by the strain? 
Shall I take away pity that knits heart to heart, 

And sacrifice high? 
Will ye lose all your heroes that lift from the fire ■ 

White brows to the sky? 
Shall T take away love that redeems with a price 

And smiles at its loss? 
Can ye spare from your lives that would climb into Mine, 

The Christ on His Cross?" 

— Selected. 



